


Translations

by Evil_Little_Dog



Series: Little Things [65]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Community: fanfic_bakeoff, Community: fmagiftexchange, Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-16
Updated: 2011-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-26 04:04:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/278489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evil_Little_Dog/pseuds/Evil_Little_Dog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary:  Alphonse is homesick.<br/>Disclaimer:  Arakawa owns all!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lost In Translation

X X X

The sun shone differently in Xing, Alphonse thought. He sat in an open window casement, staring out over the royal gardens. The scents of flowers and fruit rose up on the heat and drifting through the open window. His nose twitched and he closed his eyes, trying to differentiate between the sweet smell of apricots – they were ripening, and he really loved the taste of them – and everything else in the garden. Something was missing, though; he just couldn’t figure out what -

“-phonse!” Something smacked on his knee, and Alphonse flailed, dropping his notepad and pen as he grabbed for the window frame to keep from falling out of the window. “Pay attention!”

“Mei!” He glared at her, meeting her furious eyes. “I nearly fell!”

“You caught yourself!” she snapped back.

“You hit me!”

“You were not paying attention to your lesson!” Behind her, Xiao Mei mocked her pose of outstretched arm, waving finger, and absolute fury. “What were you thinking of that is more important than learning alkahestry?”

Alphonse opened his mouth and shut it again. How did he go about explaining about the sun, and its light, and how different Xing was from Rezembool? The manicured gardens were nothing like the shaggy fields dotted with sheep, and full of skulking dogs and shepherds, watching the flocks. Absent at nights was the long, low sound of a train whistle, echoing through the valleys, and the lowing of the Nedobeck’s cattle. “I’m homesick,” he realized suddenly, the lethargy and distance he’d felt the past few weeks making sense.

X X X


	2. Translated

X X X

They sat in the royal gardens, on a bench carved of some creamy green stone. The sun was absent, hidden behind clouds that smothered the city-state like a wet woolen blanket. Alphonse tugged at the collar of his _cheongsam_ , wishing it wasn’t so tight against his throat.

“Stop pulling at it, Alphonse!” Mei slapped at his hand.

“Violent woman!” He rubbed his fingers. “It’s hot!”

“Then do something to cool off!”

Alphonse gave her a long look, and stood up abruptly, scooping Mei up, throwing her over his shoulder despite her protests and kicks against her chest.

“Put me down!” she shrilled. “Alphonse!”

He knew token protests when they were offered, especially since Mei knew how to redirect _chi_ with a stab of her fingers into the right nerve group. Grinning, he held on to her legs, carrying her to the artesian well that had been made into a waterfall, spilling into a pool swarming with multi-colored fish, and dragonflies flitting over it.

“Alphonse, no,” Mei squealed, realizing where they were.

He didn’t stop, walking directly into the pool, sinking down into the cool water. The placid fish darted away in a swirl of frothy fins, the dragonflies and water striders charging off to safer sections of the pond. Alphonse sat on a rock his feet found beneath the water, holding Mei in his lap. She struggled for a few seconds, then pouted in silence.

“When I was little, we used to wade in the Nedobeck’s pond when it got too hot. This isn’t their pond,” it couldn’t be; not without the cows churning up the mud at the edges, and sometimes pooping or peeing in the water – Alphonse knew the pond’s caretakers would be horrified at anything beyond the fish relieving itself in the water – “but sometimes, if I squint, I can imagine….”

“Maybe,” Mei rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. “you should go home.”

Alphonse rocked her. “Not yet,” he murmured in her hair. “Not yet.”

X X X


End file.
